Air conditioners



April 24, 1962 c. H. HUBER AIR CONDITIONERS Filed Sept. 15, 1957 BY fld azQ Jffamey United Sttes atent 3,030,781 AIR CGNDlTIGNERS Charles Henry Huber, 2128 Miriam Lane, Arlington, Tex.

Filed Sept. 13, 1957, Ser. No. 683,741 7 Claims. (Cl. 62-402) My invention relates to air conditioners, and more particularly to air conditioners of the turbo-compressor type.

It is an object of my invention to provide an eiiective turbo-compressor type air conditioner of simplified and economic construction.

Another object of my invention is to provide an effective air conditioner of the turbo-compressor type wherein the turbo-compressor section is an integral unit having no internal relatively moving parts.

Another object of my invention is to provide a turbocompressor type air conditioner wherein the heat exchanger process is isothermal.

These and other objects are effected by my invention as will be apparent from the following description taken in accordance with the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this application, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic side elevational view, partially in section, showing an air conditioner in accordance with a preferred embodiment of my invention;

FIG. 2. is a schematic section View taken at lines 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic section view taken at lines 3-3 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a schematic section view taken at lines 44 I of FIG. 1.

In FiG. 1 there is shown an air conditioner comprising a centrifugal blower H, a turbo-compressor unit 13, and a turbo-compressor electric drive motor 15. The centrifugal blower may be of a conventional type having an intake (not shown), driven by an electric motor (not shown), and having an output duct 17. The turbo-compressor unit comprises an inner shell 19, an intermediate shell 21, an outer shell 26, compressor blades 25, turbine blades 27, and heat exchanger blades 29. The inner shell 19 is in the form of a hollow closed cylinder, mounted for rotation about its axis on a shaft 31 by means of bearings 33 at the center portion of its end walls 35, 37. The shaft 31 does not rotate, but is supported at each end on a respective left and right bearing pedestal 39, 41. Each bearing pedestal has a central bore of size suitable to form a duct for a refrigerant medium. The shaft 3-1 is supported on the respective pedestal bore by means of radially extending support members 43. Each pedestal bore is provided with a bearing race at its end portion adjacent the turbo-compressor. The intermediate shell 21 comprises a first short open ended cylindrical section 45 at its left end portion, a first short open ended frustro-conical section 4-7 joined at its small end to the right end of said first cylindrical section; a long open ended frustioconical section 49 joined at its small end to the large end of said first frustro-conical section, a second short open ended frustro-conical section 51 joined at its large end to the large end of said long frustroconical section, and a second short open ended cylindrical section 53 joined at its left end to the small end of said second frustro-conical section. The axes of the cylindrical and frustro-conical sections just mentioned are common. The said first and second short cylindrical sections 45, 53 are journalled at their outer end portions on bearings 55 which are mounted in the respective pedestal bearing races. The output duct 17 of the centrifugal blower 11 has its outer end portion fitting into the entrance portion of the bore of the left hand pedestal 39. An output duct 57 for the turbo-compressor output has its left end portion fitted into the exit portion of the bore of the right hand pedestal 41. The first frustroconical section 47 is dimensioned such that it converges toward the left end wall 35 of the inner shell 19 in the outward radial direction. The long frustro-conical section 49 of the intermediate shell 21 extends beyond the inner shell 19 at both ends thereof, and the diameter of its small end is greater than that of the inner shell. Thus the long frustro-conical section 4% diverges outwardly from the inner shells cylindrical surface in the direction from left to right in the drawing, and the second short frustro-conical section 51 diverges outwardly from the right end wall 37 of the inner shell 19' in the radial direction toward the common axis. The compressor blades 25 extend radially and symmetrically outward with respect to the common axis aforementioned. Each compressor blade is fixed at its side edges to adjacent Walls of the first short frustro-conical section 47 and the left end wall 35 of the inner shell. The outer extent of each compressor blade is the same as the inn-er shell radius, while its inner extent is the same as the first short cylindrical section radius. Each turbine blade 27 is fixed at its side edges to adjacent walls of the second. short frustroconical section 51. and the right end wall 37 of the inner shell. The outer extent of each turbine blade is the same as the inner shell radius, while its inner extent is a little greater than the radius of the second short cylindrical section. The outer shell 23 is a long frustro-conical section which is parallel to and spaced outwardly from, and coextensive with the intermediate shell 21. The outer shell is fixed to and supported on the intermediate shell by means of fan blades 29 at its left end and fins 59 adjacent its right end. The fan blades 29 serve to move the air or other gas from left to right through the space between outer aend intermediate shells. The turbo-compressor drive motor 15 is contained within the inner shell 19 and has its stator 61 fixed to the shaft, and its rotor 63 fixed to the inner wall of the cylindrical section of the inner shell 19. The motor 15 is adapted to be energized by conventional means not shown.

Indiscussing operation of the apparatus of my inven tion, the refrigerant gas is assumed to be air, and the heat absorbing medium is assumed to be air, though it is to be understood that other suitable refrigerant gases and heat absorbing mediums could be used, and would occur to one skilled in the art. Refrigerant air from any suitable source at atmospheric or ambient pressure and temperature (the pressure and temperature of the space being cooled) is introduced at the intake of the centrifugal blower and is then passed through the various stages of the apparatus and is discharged at the output duct either in a cooled or cooling potential state. In order to properly explain the sequence of events, the condition or status of the refrigerant air will be examined at the beginning and end of each stage. For convenience, the stages will be denominated as the centrifugal compressor stage, the turbo-compressor stage, the heat exchanger stage, and the turbine stage. The air at the centrifugal compressor input is at ambient temperature and pressure, and substantially zero velocity. The air arrives at the input to the compressor stage at increased pressure, slightly increased temperature, and greatly increased velocity. The turbo-compressor stage performs the function of increasing the potential energy, primarily in terms of pressure and temperature. Thus the air arrives at the output of the turbo-compressor stage with its temperature and pressure greatly increased, and with some increase in velocity. Thus, at the entrance to the heat exchanger stage, the state of the air refrigerant medium is that of high temperature, high pressure, and high velocity.

The thermodynamic process in the heat exchanger stage is made to be isothermal. This means that the temperature of the refrigerant air in the heat exchanger stage is maintained constant. Ambient air is drawn through the space between the intermediate and outer shells by action of the fan blades. This air, being cooler than the refrigerant air at this stage, provides a heat sink, and heat flows from the refrigerant air to the heat absorbing air. The Wall of the intermediate shell separating the flows, is made of high conductivity material. As the refrigerant air flow proceeds from left to right in the heat exchanger stage, the pressure is caused to increase as a result of centrifugal action due to increase in mean duct radius, while at the same time the axial flow velocity is decreased due to increased duct volume. The heat exchange process is controlled such that the relationship obtains, where P is pressure, p is density and K is a constant including temperature. Thus, the state of the re frigerant air at the entrance to the turbine stage is that its temperature is unchanged, pressure is increased, and velocity is decreased. The function of the turbine stage is to produce the pressure drop required to return the air to ambient pressure conditions, thus reducing the air temperature to accomplish refrigeration. If desired, the air could instead be returned to ambient temperature, with the pressure remaining high, thus providing potential refrigeration, with actual refrigeration to be accomplished in a further stage. The centrifugal compressor determines the refrigerating capacity of the unit, while the turbo-compressor determines the temperature differential.

It is to be understood that duct configurations other than that shown may be used without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, the turbo-compressor section may have any suitable configuration which will achieve a satisfactory compression ratio. There are other configurations that could be used for the heat exchanger section, and which would also achieve the isothermal flow process. For example, it may be desirable to insert guide vanes extending longitudinally of the heat exchanger and shaped to impart a spiral motion to the refrigerant medium. Further, the turbine stage may take any suitable configuration which will achieve the desired pressure drop. The specific shapes of all ducts will of course be governed to some extent by the thermodynamic characteristics of the chosen refrigerant medium. The isothermal design makes the use of special refrigerants unnecessary. If desired, axial compression and expansion units could be employed instead of the radial type shown. It is further to be understood that the device of my invention could be used as a turbine to produce usable power. In such case, hot gas is caused to flow in the space between the intermediate and outer shells; cool gas is introduced at output duct 57, and the turbo-compressor unit is designed so that the process proceeds from right to left through the device. At the turbine output end (centrifugal blower input) there will be available, gas at increased pressure, ready to do useful work. The centrifugal blower would of course be replaced by a gas turbine capable of utilizing the turbine output gas. If desired, it would be possible to generate the required heat energy directly within the iso-thermal duct.

In some cases, it may be desirable to eliminate the centrifugal blower and accomplish all of the refrigerant gas compression and acceleration in the turbo-compressor stage.

While I have shown my invention in only one form, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof.

I claim:

1. An air conditioner comprising; a turbo-compressor having an inner shell and an outer shell, compressor blades fixing said inner shell to said outer shell at one end thereof, turbine blades fixing said inner shell to said outer shell at the other end thereof, a fixed shaft having a central axis common with the central axis of said turbocompressor, support means for said shaft, said inner shell being journalled on said shaft, said outer shell being journalled on said support means, an electric motor contained within said inner shell and having a stator fixed 'to said shaft and a rotor fixed to said inner shell, means for causing a cooling medium to flow over the outer surface of said outer shell, an input duct at one end of said outer shell, an output duct at the other end of said outer shell, the relative configurations of said inner and outer shells being such as to promote iso-thermal flow in the space between said compressor blades and said turbine blades.

2. A turbine comprising; a turbo-compressor having an inner shell and an outer shell defining space therebetween, compressor blades fixing said inner shell to said outer shell at one end thereof, turbine blades fixing said inner shell to said outer shell at the other end thereof, a fixed shaft having a central axis, common with the central axis of said turbo-compressor, support means for said shaft, said inner shell being journalled on said shaft, said outer shell being journalled on said support means, and electric motor contained within said inner shell and having a stator fixed to said shaft and a rotor fixed to said inner shell, an input duct at one end of said outer shell and an output duct at the other end of said outer shell, the relative configurations of said inner and outer shells being such as to promote iso-thermal flow in said space and between said compressor blades and said turbine blades, said outer shell being adapted for conduction of thermal energy into said space.

3. A turbine comprising; a turbo-compressor having an inner shell and an outer shell defining a space therebetween, compressor blades fixing said inner shell to said outer shell at one end thereof, turbine blades fixing said inner shell to said outer shell at the other end thereof, a fixed shaft having a central axis common with the central axis of said turbo-compressor, support means for said shaft, said inner shell beingjournalled on said shaft, said outer shell being journalled on said support means, means for rotating said turbo-compressor about its central axis, an input duct at one end of said outer shell and an output duct at the other end of said outer shell, the relative configurations of said inner and outer shells being such as to promote iso-thermal How in said space and between said compressor blades and said turbine blades, said outer shell being adapted for conduction of thermal energy into said space.

4. A turbine comprising: a turbo-compressor having an inner shell and an outer shell defining a space there'- between, compressor blades fixing said inner shell to said outer shell at one end thereof, turbine blades fixing said inner shell to said outer shell at the other end thereof, a fixed shaft having a central axis common with the central axis of said turbo-compressor, support means for said shaft, said inner shell being journalled on said shaft, said outer shell being journalled on said support means, means for rotating said turbo-compressor about its central axis, an input duct at One end of said outer shell and an output duct at the other end of said outer shell, the relative configurations of said inner and outer shells being such as to promote iso-thermal flow in said space and between said compressor blades and said turbine blades, and duct means adapted for directing heating medium flow over the outer surface of said shell.

5. A turbine comprising: a turbo-compressor having an inner shell and an outer shell defining a space therebetween, compressor blades fixing said inner shell to said outer shell at one end thereof, turbine blades fixing said inner shell to said outer shell at the other end thereof, a fixed shaft having a central axis common with the central axis of said turbo-compressor, support means for said shaft, said inner shell being journalled on said shaft,

said outer shell being journalled on said support means, means for rotating said turbo-compressor about its central axis an input duct at one end of said outer shell and an output duct at the other end of said outer shell, the relative configurations of said inner and outer shells being such as to promote iso-thermal flow in said space and between said compressor blades and said turbine blades, said space between said inner and outer shells being adapted for the introduction of thermal energy therein.

6. An air conditioner comprising a first compressor unit having an input side adapted for receiving a thermo dynamic medium having higher than ambient temperature and an output side, a turbo-compressor including a second compressor unit having an input side and an output side, with the input side connected to said first compressor unit output side, an iso-therrnal heat exchanger having an input side and an output side, with the input side connected to said second compressor unit output side and a turbine unit having an input side and an output side with the input side connected to said heat exchanger output side, said turbine unit output side being adapted for discharging said thermo dynamic medium at lower than ambient temperature, said second compressor unit, said heat exchanger, and said turbine unit being formed as an integral assembly with no relatively moving parts; and means for rotating said integral assembly about its central axis.

7. An air conditioner comprising a first compressor unit having an input side adapted for receiving a thermo dynamic medium having higher than ambient temperature and an output side, a turbo-compressor including a second compressor unit having an input side and an output side, with the input side connected to said first compressor unit output side, an iso-thermal heat exchanger having an input side and an output side, with the input side connected to said second compressor unit output side and a turbine unit having an input side and an output side with the input side connected to said heat exchanger output side, said turbine unit output side being adapted for discharging said thermo dynamic medium at lower than ambient temperature, said second compressor unit, said heat exchanger, and said turbine unit being formed as an integral assembly with no relatively moving parts; and means contained within said integral assembly for rotating said assembly about its central axis.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,879,685 Iaczko Sept. 27, 1932 2,073,833 De Bothezat Mar. 16, 1937 2,393,338 Roebuck Jan. 22, 1946 2,572,253 Fellows Oct. 23, 1951 2,686,215 Fondiller Aug. 10, 1954 2,698,568 Jensen Jan. 4, 1955 

